Skip to main content
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty

Day: May 8, 2013

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Wisconsin, Maine

  • Assembly passes bill requiring that most food stamp benefits go to purchasing healthy foods, By Patrick Marley and Jason Stein, May 7, 2013, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Food stamp recipients would have to spend most of their benefits on healthy food, and more kinds of food stamp fraud would be explicitly subject to state sanctions, under separate bills approved Tuesday. The Assembly approved, on a bipartisan vote of 68-26, a bill requiring at least two-thirds of the purchases in the state’s FoodShare program to come from a list of state-defined healthy foods, with Republicans arguing that the benefits outweighed the opposition of some business interests and advocates for the needy. The measure now goes to the state Senate…”
  • Odd coalition opposes Wisconsin bill limiting junk food purchases for food stamp users, By Jason Stein, May 6, 2013, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “An odd coalition of advocates for the needy, local retailers and big corporations is opposing a fast-moving bill limiting junk food for food stamp recipients. The bill on Wisconsin’s FoodShare program comes before the state on Tuesday in the Assembly, where it is expected to pass despite the unusual opposition…”
  • LePage proposal would bar food stamp use on junk food, By Matthew Stone, May 3, 2013, Bangor Daily News: “A proposal by Gov. Paul LePage that would bar food stamp recipients from spending their benefits on soft drinks and certain snack foods made its way to the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Friday with bipartisan support. The LePage bill, LD 1411, is sponsored by Sen. Roger Katz of Augusta, the assistant Senate Republican leader, and is co-sponsored by five Democrats and four Republicans…”

State of the World’s Mothers Report

  • To save more newborns, focus on the poor, report says, By Ryan Lenora Brown, May 7, 2013, Christian Science Monitor: “Over the last two decades, the number of children dying before their fifth birthday has decreased dramatically around the globe – falling from 12 million annually in 1990 to 7 million today. But one group remains particularly at risk: newborns born to poor families. In the world’s poorest countries – as well as some of its richest – income is an increasingly large factor in how risky a baby’s first days of life are, according to a report released today by Save the Children, an international nongovernmental organization…”
  • More US babies die on their first day than in 68 other countries, report shows, By Maggie Fox, April 30, 2013, NBC News: “The U.S. is a worse place for newborns than 68 other countries, including Egypt, Turkey and Peru, according to a report released Tuesday by Save the Children. A million babies die every year globally on the same day they were born, including more than 11,000 American newborns, the report estimates. Most of them could be saved with fairly cheap interventions, the group says…”